For the firm that prepared many 26 /11 bodies for transportation to various cities, death is a daily companion at work

The phone call from Bombay Hospital was brief: “Bullet injury marks and possibility of many more bodies”. This was how November 27, 2008 began for Mahim-based David Undertakers.

The next six days saw partners David D’Souza (32) and Neville Sequeira (61) waiting outside terrorist targets and hospitals, sifting through mutilated and bloated bodies, coordinating with embassies whose nationals had been killed and helping families ferry injured relatives to hospitals using their network of 10 ambulances. “There was not a morsel to eat for six consecutive days, and all we had around us were bodies, and more bodies,” recalls Sequeira who joined D’Souza after quitting his job as a marine engineer.

Among the many casualties they handled include bodies of a Japanese, an Australian, a British and two Americans and another 10 Indians whose bodies had to be sent to their hometowns across the country. “We lost count of the bodies after a point. Our priority always was to pick the injured and ensure that they could be reached to hospitals soon,” says D’Souza who has in his lifetime seen more bodies than an average policeman.

Through the next few days, Sequira was busy collecting the multiple permissions and clearances needed — from the BMC, the police, health officials, consular offices, immigration officials and getting the last detail right, the clipping of the deceased person’s passport by immigration.

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